Yes, I live in Colorado, but my blog is called “Californian in Exile” for a reason. Essentially it’s this: as much as I love being here, I miss most things from my home state.

A big missing part of that whole notion is AT&T Park, a baseball palace I didn’t go to that much, since it opened just two years before first hubby G and I moved to Denver. But I fell in love with it right away, even though the Giants weren’t as much fun to watch as they are now.

The ballpark, built in a somewhat wind-protected cove near San Francisco’s China Basin, showcased architecture reminiscent of old time stadiums, a trend first started with Baltimore’s Camden Yard. But it offered something more – a jaw dropping view of the Bay, and from certain sections of the park, the Bay Bridge. There are also fans who kayak or float up to the edge of the water and retrieve home runs hit over the right field bleachers – the iconic “Splash Hits.” Finally, you have the selection of gourmet-caliber food your just can’t get in any other Major League Baseball park.

Now I can only make it out there about once a year, if I time my trips out to the City well enough. Last year, we saw San Francisco beat the LA Dodgers, the most satisfying win of all for Giants fans. If things go according to plan, we’ll see them play the New York Mets there in July.

Until then, I will have to settle for Coors Field, home of the Rockies and my surrogate baseball home. It resembles AT&T’s fraternal twin. But honestly, it’s just not the same because it’s not the Giants’ home park.

Since opening 20 years ago, Coors has gained fame as a launching pad – a pitcher’s doom and a batter’s Nirvana. The mile-high altitude (incidentally marked by a row of purple seats in the upper reserve section) makes hitters hovering around a .200 batting average look mighty. The Rockies management now has a humidor to put some moisture onto those baseballs and not make them go zippy.

That’s what RAS and I did last Friday – going to Coors to see my beloved team, and the other team I sort of root for when SF isn’t playing. The weather looked a bit uncooperative, but a sunny/cloudy sky appeared before the sun set.

Before going to the game, we had dinner at Rio Grande, a Mexican restaurant in LoDo…and enjoyed one of these powerful elixirs:

This margarita isn’t as huge as it appears – honest!

Rio Grande is known around here for its knock-you-down margaritas. They’re made with pure lime juice (versus margarita mix), tequila and salt. I prefer them on the rocks, but you can also get it blended, which reminds me of a grownup Slurpee. If I had more than this one, I would’ve been too blotto to see the game.

Heading four blocks to the ballpark, we managed to snag tickets down near the field. Normally we sit in the nosebleed seats on the upper reserve level, but Coors Field was having its 20th anniversary celebration and many of the seats were discounted. So what if they were way down in the left field corner? I haven’t been this close to the game in ages:

Seats near the field for once – Coors Field, Denver

I actually like to watch the game, but RAS just tolerates it. So I told him as a reward for his patience, we could hang out at the Rooftop, the new party-friendly upper level addition above the right field seats. It’s mostly a double decked open area for barhopping at the ballpark:

The Coors Field Rooftop, or Party Central for Non-Baseball Fans

This is an area where only about 25% of the people milling about care about the game. The other 75% just have the convenient excuse to drink and talk about anything except baseball. It was much more crowded than it appeared from below, so all we managed to do is selfie ourselves, just to prove we were there:

No drinking at the Rooftop, just a goofy picture – Coors Field, Denver

It was a great Friday night date with RAS, with the only clunker being that the Giants lost, 6-4, after leading for a good part of the game. With the way their season is going so far (a 9-14 record and stuck in the National League West basement), it was kind of expected. But it’s early in the season yet…there’s still a LOT of baseball left to play.

So I’m not worried…and I’ll probably be coming to Coors again very soon.

Sort of continuing with the sports-themed posts…our visit to the local ballpark, Coors Field.

This purple and black home to Colorado’s Major League Baseball team revitalized the once-decrepit lower downtown area of Denver, which until 20 years ago or so, only had rundown warehouses, pockmarked streets, abandoned buildings and down on their luck homeless. Now called LoDo, it’s teeming with hip sports bars, ear-splitting nightclubs, chic restaurants and way-overpriced loft condos.

Since the Giants came to play the Rockies for a three-game series, there was no doubt about our going. Unfortunately, because it was still a school night, we didn’t stay for the entire game. It was just as well.

We left when the score was tied, 3-3, in the middle of the seventh after singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Eventually, San Francisco scored the go-ahead run in the ninth, and brought in their closer Sergio Romo to preserve a win. Well, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Even with two men on, two out and a two-strike count, Romo gave up a double to rising star third baseman Nolan Arenado, who I think just obtained his driver’s license and learned to shave. Yeah, he’s that young – really, he’s probably 22 or so.

The hometown Rockies won, 5-4 in a walk-off win. Luckily, we avoiding being witnesses to that debacle.

Whether we were there to see it in person or not, it was a heartbreaker for Giants fans like me. But the girls had a good time, and that’s ultimately what makes it worthwhile. RAS, probably not so much, since he’s never really learned to like baseball and definitely not on the level I have. He attends at least one game a year just to humor me, all the while complaining about how expensive the food and drinks are (he does have a point there) and how slow the game goes. Granted he doesn’t say much, but I know he’s thinking these things 🙂

One good thing was that we got to sit in the Club level, which meant the seats were more comfortable, slightly sheltered with a partial overhang and a nice glass-enclosed entrance with friendly ushers. If we so desired, we could’ve been served our food and drink by a roving concession staff. No way was RAS going for that.

As big a baseball fan I am, I’ve only been to four of the current 30 Major League Baseball parks across the country: Coors Field, AT&T Park, Dodger Stadium and the Oakland Coliseum (which has the weird official name of O.co Coliseum now). With a few of them, I stood outside but didn’t go inside and see a game, so they don’t count: Chase Field and Wrigley Field. Some don’t even exist anymore, like the old Anaheim Stadium, where the California (now Los Angeles) Angels used to play. It was mostly destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, so they scrapped a lot of it and just started all over again. Some don’t even host baseball anymore, like San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, which now just has football games, from NFL to prep, and aren’t sharing space. Except for the occasional monster truck rally.

It’s a fruitless attempt, but we could see games at Citi Field, the New York Mets’ home, and the Nationals Park in DC when we go back there in about a month. Nobody in my family really wants to go. I’m a little bummed out. But we’ll always have the games down in LoDo.

Before Tuesday’s game, we did have good healthy meal at the nearby BD’s Mongolian Grill before the game. No crappy Rockie dogs for my family!

Our dinner cooking at BD’s, DenverMy finished BBQ…yum!

Once we got to the ballpark, JRS and I went down to the field to see some of the Giants warming up…

Brandon Hicks and Pablo (Panda) Sandoval before the game, with a Giants staff guy (I think) in the black shirt